"Nova," he said.
"Mm," I said.
"I'm going to say something," he said. "And I want you to let me say all of it before you respond. Even the parts that are—" he paused. "Even the parts that are the most difficult to say."
I put my fork down.
"All right," I said.
He looked at the harbour.
"In the first life," he said, "I was — I was not the person I should have been. I know this without knowing the specific details, because the person you described — the one who signed papers in a hospital corridor, the one who let you be reduced, the one who—" he stopped. "I know that was me. I don't have specific memories but I understand the shape of the failure because I understand my own defaults. My tendency to manage rather than be present. To close off rather than be seen. To use distance as saf
